Page 46 of Bound to a Highland Beast
“Are ye here alone? Where is Tiernan?”
“He’s… he’s over there,” Isabeau said, her gaze searching for him. She couldn’t find him by the cart, though, and her heart stopped for a moment, the worst scenarios speeding through her mind. What if Constantine had already killed him? What if he had come there now to taunt her, knowing Tiernan would never come back?
“Ach, there he is,” Constantine said, and Isabeau followed his gaze to find him at another cart, trying to balance two cups of wine as he paid for some food. “A nice feast, dinnae ye think?”
“It’s very nice,” Isabeau agreed, just to be polite, but then she didn’t know what else to say and the silence that followed was so heavy, so uncomfortable that she desperately searched for another topic of conversation. She was masterful at finding the right thing to say, after all, even when the other person involved was a terrifying criminal.
Soon, her gaze fell on the bottle Constantine was holding in his hand and her mind latched onto it, finally breaking the oppressive silence. “Are ye fond o’ wine? I cannae say I drink much meself but when I dae, it is always wine.”
“Is that so?” Constantine asked, his tone making it seem as though he was truly curious and interested in her preferences.“Here, ye can have it. I was given it fer the feast, but I never drink when I’m… huntin’.”
As he spoke, Constantine handed her the bottle and Isabeau, after a moment of hesitation, took it reluctantly from him, holding it in one hand. It was still corked and a little dusty, dirtying her hands.
The choice of words didn’t go past her unnoticed.Hunting, Constantine had said. So, he was there for someone, but whether that someone was her or Tiernan, she could not tell. Perhaps he had an entirely different mission, looking for an entirely different person, but that, too, was not much of a relief.
She couldn’t help but fear that someone would die that night.
“Yer husband shouldnae leave such a bonnie lass like ye here alone,” Constantine advised her, though it sounded more like a threat. “So many bad people around these days.”
“He didnae leave me alone,” said Isabeau through gritted teeth. “He’s right there.”
“Ach aye. So he is.”
Constantine stared at her in silence, once again giving her that smile that chilled her to the bone. It didn’t take long for Tiernan to appear, pushing himself between them, into the small gap Constantine had left, and it was only then, when his shoulderbrushed against the tip of her nose, that she realized just how close Constantine had come.
“Excuse me,” he said. “If there is somethin’ ye want from me, we can speak on the morrow. But now I must speak with me wife.”
He, too, had recognized Constantine, and before the other man could protest or try to convince them to stay, Tiernan was already guiding her back to the safety of their inn—or at least the illusion of it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Tiernan sat at the edge of the bed and then stood again, pacing around the room. There was so much pent-up energy inside him, so much fear and anger and frustration at how close Constantine had gotten to Isabeau without him even noticing, that he couldn’t sit still, not even for a minute.
How could he have been so careless? Anything could have happened to Isabeau in those moments he had left her alone and yet he hadn’t even given it a second thought when she had asked him to get them some mulled wine.
I should have kept her by me side the entire time. I cannae let her out o’ me sight again.
And yet, even if they managed to survive all this, what would happen next? They would return to Castle MacGregor and everything would be over.
“Tiernan, why dinnae ye sit?” Isabeau asked as she perched on the bed, patting the spot next to her. “Come. What good is it, wanderin’ around the room like this?”
With a heavy sigh, Tiernan did as he was told, but even as he sat next to her, he couldn’t keep still. His leg kept bouncing nervously and he brought his thumb to his teeth, biting at a bit of roughened skin.
Gently, Isabeau rested her hand on his, pulling it away from his mouth.
“What concerns ye so much?” she asked. “This daesnae change anythin’.”
“He came so close tae ye, Isabeau,” he pointed out, unable to understand how she couldn’t see all the problems that threatened to choke him. She was far too optimistic for her own good and though it was something Tiernan liked, even admired, in her, it was also something he couldn’t handle now that their reality was crashing down on him so suddenly and so cruelly.
“But I’m fine,” she said. “See? Naethin’ wrong with me.”
Tiernan shook his head. Silence stretched between them, heavy with all the things he couldn’t bring himself to say.
“It isnae only that. Ye understand, dae ye nae? Even if everythin’ goes well, even if we get out o’ this alive …”
He couldn’t continue his train of thought. He couldn’t bring himself to face the truth, not when Isabeau was sitting so close to him, warm and solid and real.
“What?” Isabeau asked. “What happens if we come out o’ this alive?”
